I bought a some new runners and intake. The main visible spots are polished and looks fairly nice. But there are some visible spots that are not polished. I thought I would give a first try on these spots. I have found and read the tech writeup.

The car is not a show car and is far from perfect. I am just doing this because thats what I got and would like it to look a little more complete.

I am at the 220 stage in these pics. Am I about right? Need more sanding?

 

it looks like you need a lot more polishing. i took mine intake up to 750 grit and you can still see some pits in it and it pisses me off everytime. also tip when polishing with a polishing wheel used the gold jewler rouge then the finishing touch white rough. i did mine like that and it came out looking like a mirror. just take your time with it let the wheel do the work and let it get hott.

 

I did more work on it last night. I'm down to 600 grit in areas.

However, I cant find the 3m marine restore stuff mentioned in the tech writeup. What exactly does that do so I can try and find it in a different brand?

 

i never used it. i just sanded it down and took it to the polishing wheel and buffed it. its not hard to do because thatr part of the intake is nice and flate.

 

i just did my plenum and it took me a good 4 hours of sanding.

i started way down at like 60 or 80 grit and took it up to 1000 grit. its as smooth as eggs now. with no pits at all.

the hardest part was the center of the plenum where the veins are. that part is way tough.

 

pix of finished product?

 

when i did my in was a pain in the ***. i sanded it down with from 100 grit to ,250,400,600,750, 1000 wet sanded. keep in mind every deep strach will show through so you have to make sure you get them all. once you get it sanded i went at it with white polishing rouge on a buffer wheel. keep in mind let the area your polishing get hot and let the rouge do the work. took me about 12 hours but it looks good to me. also when your done finish it up with mothers polish and that will help it keep its luster

 

i did mine all by hand.
it was a pain.
i started with 80 grit and a block and went at it.
eventually i was at 1200 and i started using WD-40 as a lubricant to keep the dust from scratching it.
at that point, i used a product called "heavy metal polish" and brought it to a mirror finish.
its about $20 a bottle, but its the best $20 ive ever spent. you can use a pea sized drop, and if the metal is already semi-mirrored, it will bring it to a nearly chrome like finish.

now i have a dremel and would have made my life much easier for the week that it took

 

did mine, its all done, used a die grinder with a plastic sanding pad, the material of it was plastic, but its for metal, smoothed it out, and steel wooled it, and used some mothers aluminum and mag polish. did a real good job, i have to add a few more coats and hit a couple more spots, but i like it

 

......also, i have a plastic dist cover and aint looking to find a cover from a vette sence i already got 2 plastic ones, but what should i do to try to get them to match.....
or maybee a lime green cover......

 

I had an 87 Vette and my Vette did not have the plastic distributor cover. It was the same material as the plenum. My IROC however has the plastic cover. I will be looking for another cover when the time comes.

 

I also followed the tech write up and it came out looking good but now i am selling my tpi system but it takes lots of hours of sanding. By the way here is the 3m aluminum restorer http://www.amazon.com/Marine-Step-Al.../dp/B000RZPNNW